String Quartet in F major, Op.59, No.1 (“Razumovsky”)[1806]

String Quartet in F major, Op.59 No.1 “Razumovsky” (1805-6)

Allegro

Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando

Adagio molto e mesto

Allegro

When Count Razumovsky commissioned three string quartets from Beethoven he sponsored the addition of new structural and expressive dimensions to the medium. Half as long again as any of the Op.18 set, the Quartet in F major boasts a particularly impressive first movement - the stature of which derives partly from the symphonic breadth of its opening theme and partly from the fugal development - together with a provocatively experimental scherzo and an emotionally expansive Adagio. Apparently to please his Russian patron, Beethoven based the Finale on the “Thème russe” presented by the cello in the opening bars.

Long regarded as something of a joke, the Quartet in F Op.59 No.1 was only gradually accepted - along with the rather less disconcerting Quartets in E minor and C major written to the same commission from the enlightened Russian Ambassador in Vienna in 1806 - as a significant breakthrough in the development of the medium. The stature of the first movement, which derives largely from the symphonic breadth and purposeful demeanour of its main theme, was beyond dispute of course. Although Beethoven introduces several other themes, what really interests him when he comes to develop his material is that initial cello melody. But then, to conventional consternation, he diverts his attention to a new idea that gives rise to a fugato episode in the very centre of the construction.

The movement that provoked the laughter among Beethoven’s contemporaries was the Allegretto vivace scherzo in B flat major - mainly because of the so-called “cello solo on one note” at the very beginning. Peculiar though it might be, no one can resist it. Even the more lyrical second subject, introduced in F minor by the first violin, cannot survive for very long without reverting to the first subject, which proves to be no less irresistible and no less provocative in both the development and the coda of the movement.

The impulse for lyrical expression in the minor briefly demonstrated in the scherzo is amply fulfilled in the Adagio molto e mesto. One of the most beautiful of all Beethoven’s slow movements, it is based on the unhappy song whispered sotto voce in F minor by first violin in the opening bars. The C minor second subject, which grows into an expressive duet for cello and violin, is somewhat less oppressed but neither that nor even a tender episode in D flat major has much influence on the prevailing mood of loss - which makes the unbroken transition into the cheerful F major finale, by way of no more than a violin cadenza, all the more surprising.

Beethoven seems to have agreed to introduce a Russian tune into at least two of his three Quartets for Count Razumovsky. In this case the “Thème russe,” as the composer identifies it in the score, is presented by the cello as the main theme of the F major finale. In spite of the attractions of the legato second subject that so effectively offsets it in C major, the Russian theme dominates the rest of the movement, most provocatively in the coda where it is expanded into a lingering Adagio and then contracted into an abruptly conclusive Presto.

Regarded as something of a joke when it was girst performed, the Quartet in F Op.59 No.1 was only gradually accepted – along with the rather less disconcerting Quartets in E minor and C major written to the same commission from the enlightened Russian Ambassador, Count Razumovsky in Vienna in 1806 – as a significant breakthrough in the development of the medium. The stature of the first movement, which derives largely from the symphonic breadth and purposeful demeanour of the theme launched by the cello in the opening bars, was beyond dispute of course. Although Beethoven introduces several other themes, what really interests him when he comes to develop his material is that initial cello melody. But then, to conventional consternation, he diverts his attention to a new idea that gives rise to a fugato episode in the very centre of the construction.

The movement that provoked the laughter among Beethoven’s contemporaries was the Allegretto vivace scherzo in B flat major -– mainly because of the so-called “cello solo on one note” at the very beginning. Peculiar though it might be, no one can resist it. Even the more lyrical second subject, introduced in F minor by the first violin, cannot survive for very long without reverting to the first subject, which proves to be no less irresistible and no less provocative in both the development and the coda of the movement.

The impulse for lyrical expression in the minor briefly demonstrated in the scherzo is amply fulfilled in the Adagio molto e mesto. One of the most beautiful of all Beethoven’s slow movements, it is based on the unhappy song whispered sotto voce in F minor by first violin in the opening bars. The C minor second subject, which grows into an expressive duet for cello and violin, is somewhat less oppressed but neither that nor even a tender episode in D flat major has much influence on the prevailing mood of loss – which makes the unbroken transition into the cheerful F major finale, by way of no more than a violin cadenza, all the more surprising.

Beethoven seems to have agreed to introduce a Russian tune into at least two of his three Quartets for Count Razumovsky. In this case the “Thème russe,” as the composer identifies it in the score, is presented by the cello as the main theme of the F major finale. In spite of the attractions of the legato second subject that so effectively offsets it in C major, the Russian theme dominates the rest of the movement, most provocatively in the coda where it is expanded into a lingering Adagio and then contracted into an abruptly conclusive Presto.

When Ignaz Schuppanzigh and his colleagues first encountered Beethoven’s Quartet in F major, Op.59, No.1, they fell about laughing. Surely, this was not the score Count Razumovsky had commissioned for them but some kind of joke on the composer’s part! It continued to provoke mirth among musicians for some years to come and it was only gradually accepted – along with the Quartets in E minor and C major written to the same commission from the enlightened Russian Ambassador in Vienna in 1806 – as a significant breakthrough in the development of the medium. Much longer than the longest of Beethoven’s own Op.18 Quartets, completed five years earlier, Op.59 No.1 was unprecedented in both its proportions and its difficulty.

The stature of the first movement derives largely from the symphonic breadth and purposeful demeanour of the theme launched by the cello in the opening bars. Although the first subject is extended by two other thematic ideas and although a rather fussy second subject is introduced in elaborate counterpoint in C major, Beethoven is not much interested in developing anything other than that initial cello melody. The curious exchange of high and low chords at the end of the exposition is recalled at a fairly early stage in the development but he would clearly rather introduce a new theme, as the basis of a fugal episode, than turn his attention to those which have been properly introduced. Still more potential is found in the first subject in a dramatically extended coda.

The movement that provoked the laughter among Beethoven’s contemporaries was the Allegretto vivace scherzo in B flat major – mainly because of the so-called “cello solo on one note” at the very beginning. Only four bars in length, it scarcely amounts to a solo: it’s more a gentle test of reactions to a provocative rhythmic pattern. No one, it seems, can resist it. Responses vary between angular staccato figuration from the violins, a contrasting four-part legato texture, and an emphatically percussive reiteration of the original pattern from the whole ensemble in rhythmic unison. A second subject introduced in F minor by the first violin opens a more lyrical episode with a particularly eloquent cello part. It cannot, however, survive for very long without reverting to the staccato figuration, the angular line and, of course, the rhythmic pattern associated with the first subject, which proves to be no less irresistible and no less provocative in both the development and the coda of the movement.

The impulse for lyrical expression in the minor briefly demonstrated in the scherzo is amply fulfilled in the Adagio molto e mesto. One of the most beautiful and most inspired of all Beethoven’s slow movements, it is based on the unhappy song whispered sotto voce in F minor by the first violin and repeated by cello in the opening bars. The somewhat less oppressed C minor second subject grows into a duet for cello and violin who, after the forceful intervention of the other instruments, pass a little sobbing motif backwards and forwards over the three octaves between them. That motif plays a significant part in the development as it leads into a particularly tender episode in D flat major – which unexpected change of mood, though it has no influence on the still unhappy recapitulation, does prepare for the transformation effected by the violin cadenza that leads, without a break, into the cheerfully F major finale.

Beethoven seems to have agreed to introduce a Russian tune into at least two of his three Quartets for Count Razumovsky. In this case the “Thème russe,” as the composer identifies it in the score, is presented by the cello as the main theme of the F major finale. In spite of the attractions of the legato    second subject that so effectively offsets it in C major, the Russian theme dominates the rest of the movement, making way for its sinuous partner in the recapitulation but coming back again in the coda – not only in its original tempo but also expanded into a lingering Adagio and then contracted into an abruptly conclusive Presto.